Five ways to pay down your mortgage without betting it all on Green Bay

As much as I follow football, I thought the Pittsbay Stackers and the Greenburgh Peelers were playing.  (But seriously, congratulations to the Packers.  Something needed to knock my rabid Steelers fan colleagues down a few notches.)  I caught this tweet from @blondeonabudget regarding the outcome of Super Bowl XLV:

“My only regret was that I didn't bet my mortgage.” – friend about Superbowl

That's far more gambling than I could ever stomach (though I sincerely doubt that her friend would have actually gone through with the wager). The only time I've seen a real six-figure wager like that was onWho Wants to Be A Millionaire? when middle-school English teacher Nancy Christy took a guess at the $500,000 question without really knowing the answer.  (She got it right, and went on to win the $1 million.)

No matter.  Anyway, there are far better ways to pay down your mortgage than betting it on the outcome of the Super Bowl.

• Pay half of your monthly mortgage payment every two weeks. This is called “biweekly mortgage acceleration.”  Do you catch why this is faster?  “Every two weeks” is a little bit more frequently than “twice a month.”  Do this for a year and you've snuck in an extra mortgage payment.  Fifty-two weeks in a year means 26 two-week periods, or 13 four-week periods.  Neat, no?  Just don't pay for the privilege of doing this; there's no need to.
• Round your payments up to the next $100. This is what we're doing at the moment.  It's not a huge amount extra, but it's better than nothing extra.  That, and the round figures are more aesthetically pleasing.  Make sure that the extra payment is going toward principal.
• Refinance your mortgage to lower your (fixed) rate.  If you're looking to pay off your mortgage, then you're probably also looking to stay in your house for a while.  If your rates are in the 5% arena, check to see if you can lower your mortgage rates with a refinance.  Thirty- and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages are below 5% as of this post.  Run through a few simple considerations for when to refinance your mortgage and look for a lower rate.
• Take some gains (or cut some losses) in your index funds, and apply the proceeds to your mortgage. If you enjoyed the ride up the past year, consider taking some of your gains and apply them to your mortgage balance.  Or, if you're tired of watching your investments whipsaw, sell and apply the proceeds to your mortgage, and avoid paying a lot of interest by knocking a hefty chunk off of the mortgage principal.  It's trading something uncertain (investment appreciation) for something certain (saving a sure amount of interest at your current mortgage rate).
• Contribute more if you have a substantial emergency fund. I'd watch getting too cash-poor in this economic environment.  Paying down a mortgage aggressively can make you cash-poor.  If the cash flow stops suddenly (job loss) then the money that was used against the mortgage is locked up.  That money can't be touched again without some kind of home equity line of credit, and this will be hard, if not impossible, to get without current income.  How much is a substantial emergency fund?  That's up to you, but I'd consider no less than six months' worth of living expenses to be substantial.